Attic Mina (mina)

Ancient GreekHistorical unit (no longer in standard use)Approximate value

About 436.6 g, equal to 100 drachmas. A mina of silver was a considerable sum in ancient Athens.

1 Attic mina = 0.4366 kilograms (approximately).

Approximate value. Standards for the Attic mina varied by place and period, so this converter uses the most commonly cited value. Treat results as estimates, not exact figures.

About the Attic mina

Mina is a borrowed word. It traces back to a Semitic root meaning to count, appearing as manu in Akkadian and maneh in Hebrew, and Greek mna was taken from the same source. In Babylonia the mina was a standard of silver weight by about 2000 BCE, at roughly 570 grams. The Greeks adopted both the word and the sixty-to-one link between mina and talent, but fitted the unit to their own coinage.

The Attic mina of Athens is usually given as about 436.6 grams, the figure used here, though other estimates run a few grams lower, near 431 grams. Cities such as Aegina used a heavier mina of about 624 grams, so a sum in minas meant little without knowing the standard. According to the sources, the mina first counted 70 drachmas and was raised to 100 around the time of Solon, about 594 BC. That decimal relation made it handy for bookkeeping, with 100 drachmas to the mina and 60 minas to the talent. A modern comparison is a little under a pound, about 0.96 pound avoirdupois.

Sources: Wikipedia: Mina (unit); Wikipedia: Ancient Greek units of measurement; Wikipedia: Talent (measurement)

Attic Mina conversion chart

1 Attic mina expressed in every other weight & mass unit:

More Ancient Greek units

• Attic talent (weight & mass)
• Attic drachma (weight & mass)
• obol (weight & mass)
• stadion (length)
• Greek foot (Olympic) (length)
• olympiad (time)
• myriad (counting & quantity)

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